'Goes Butcher': Hunting, Trading and Consumption of Bush Meat in the Region of the Taï National Park, South

NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives WHEN THE MONKEY ‘GOES BUTCHER’: HUNTING, TRADING AND CONSUMPTION OF BUSH MEAT IN THE REGION OF THE TAÏ NATIONAL PARK, SOUTHWEST CÔTE D’IVOIRE Hans-Ulrich Caspary1 The Tropenbos-Côte d’Ivoire programme/Humboldt University Berlin2 1. INTRODUCTION In March 1998, a convention was set up between several partners to carry out research on the exploitation of wildlife in the region of Taï National Park (TNP)3. The study focuses on the importance and scale of village hunting and poaching and covers the various stages of game exploitation, ranging from hunting and consumption of bush meat by subsistence hunter households to the local commercialisation of game meat and the region’s input to the nationwide bush meat trade. The results of the study will help to answer two key questions about the management of the wildlife resources in the Taï region: 1. How, why and to what extent does the local population exploit game resources? 2. How can the game exploitation and marketing system be transformed into a more sustainable utilisation system? The recommendations will be addressed to the National Park management. The study results should also contribute to the discussion about the nationwide reopening of hunting, announced by the Ivorian government in 1994 but still not signed and ratified4. The research programme started in March 1998 and will continue until March 1999. The study area is located in the southwestern forest zone of Côte d’Ivoire and includes the TNP and N’Zo Game Reserve (Figure 1). These protected areas, which cover 457,000 ha and 79,000 ha, respectively, are located in the centre of the study area and include a large number of endemic flora and fauna species. The unique species composition in the Guinea forest belt had led to its classification by UNESCO as a MAB Reserve in 1978 and as a World Heritage Site in 1981. The study focuses on the utilisation of 41 species and species groups of mammals which form the largest element of more than 50 species of exploited wildlife. The local consumers of game are 1 Geographer associated with the Geographical Institute of the Humboldt University in Berlin, conducting research on wildlife use in the Tropenbos-Côte d‘Ivoire programme. 2 Oranienstrabe 2a, D-10 997 Berlin. E-mail: [email protected]. 3 Partners include the Tropenbos Foundation, the PACPNT project (Autonomous Project for the Conservation of Taï National Park), the German Technical Assistance (GTZ) and the Humboldt University of Berlin. The research group furthermore includes Mr. Prouot Cyr (economist and local consultant to PACPNT), Mr. Koné Inza (PhD student in Biology at the University of Cocody, Abidjan), eleven prospectors in the peripherical zone of the protected areas and two observers covering the urban market sites in the study area. 4 Hunting in Côte d’Ivoire was forbidden by law in 1974. This prohibition is now under discussion, but game resources in protected areas will continue to be excluded from consumptive utilisation. 123 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands the nearby residents of the protected areas, living in the peripheral zones of TNP. They include five different Ivorian tribal groups (Baoulé, Bété, Guéré, Krou, and Wobé) and several non- Ivorian immigrant groups from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Liberia, the latter being refugees from the neighbouring civil war. Their principal source of income is based on agricultural activities, dominated by coffee and cacao plantations and the cultivation of rice. utm 29N Duékoué Duékoué Guiglo Lake of Buyo Issia The Study Region - Taï National Park and his boundary zones 700 000 N'Zo Buyo Legend (GR) ADK border of Taï (NP) and N'Zo (GR) Sassandra guard units Soubré urban center 650 000 village in the boundary zone Taï Soubré (NP) study area Ca rivers and lakes vall surfaced lanes y Li earthroads be tracks 600 Méadji 000 ria the hereby presented border of the protected areas result from an interpretation of SPOT images by SCHWETER (1997) 0 10 20 km 650 000 700 000 750 000 San Pedro caspary 1999 - TROPENBOS-CI / PACPNT Figure 1 The study area: Taï National Park and peripheral zone The local population exploits game for its animal protein intake. In addition, they sell hunting products to local and external traders in the informal sector. Several studies of game exploitation in the tropical African forest zone deal with informal exploitation groups (Fa et al., 1995 in Guinée équatoriale; Falconer and Koppel, 1990 in Ghana; Ziegler, 1996 in Guinée; Steel, 1994 in Gabon). In Côte d’Ivoire, the problem is that hunting and the trade in bush meat and hunting products are actually prohibited. Because of this complex situation, we have used a heterogeneous mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to obtain information from the local population of the areas surrounding the protected zones. Anonymity of the informants in this context is of utmost importance. The methodology employed consisted of: - weekly inventories of game species and the quantities sold in the rural area, including 53 rural bush meat restaurants in eleven different villages and one rural market place in the protected areas peripheral zone; - weekly inventories of game species and the quantities sold in 70 urban bush meat restaurants located in four urban agglomerations and two urban market places around the protected areas; 124 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives - an inventory of the socio-economic characteristics of the market and the parties involved (hunters, restaurant owners, consumers, etc.) in the so-called filière de viande de brousse (bush meat marketing chain); - daily inventories of the number and destination of game species being exploited by ten subsistence hunters from the protected areas peripheral zone; - examination of local urban and rural people’s preferences in bush meat consumption; - analysis of the game species and the quantities of animals hunted or poached in the protected areas and sold in the peripheral zone (two villages); - investigation of the ways in which bush meat is transported from the rural to the urban areas and the quantities transferred; - observation of hunting activities, with a focus on the techniques employed (selective and non- selective), the seasonal characteristics of hunting (calendar of agricultural activities) and the degree of organisation of hunting activities (groups, camps). Attention was also paid to the role of the different game species in totem5 and to their medicinal uses, as well as to the damage they cause to agriculture. In addition, the available quantities of animal protein from domestic livestock will be compared with those obtained from bush meat. 70 60 50 40 taux (%) 30 20 10 0 Anoma- Rat géant Grand Athérure Chauves- Civette Céph. à Céph. de Guib lure d'Emin Aulacode africain souris d'Afrique b.d.n. Max. harnaché taux au nombre total taux au chiffre d'affaires total taux au poids carcasse total Figure 2 Key species hunted and traded to game meat restaurants in villages neighbouring the Béki Forest Reserve (Southeast Côte d’Ivoire). Source: Caspary (in press). Anomalure = Pel’s flying squirrel; Rat géant d’Emin = Emin’s giant rat; Grand Aulacode = Greater cane rat; Athérure africain = African brush-tailed porcupine; Chauves-souris = bats; Civette = African civet; Céphalophe à bande dorsale noire = Bay duiker; Céphalophe de Maxwell = Blue Duiker; Guib harnaché = Bushbuck. taux au nombre total = total number; taux au chiffres d’affaires total = % of total sales; taux au poids carcasse total = % of total slaughter weight. 5 See Section 3 for more information. 125 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands 2. INTERIM RESULTS At the time of writing this article, fieldwork for this study is still going on. The first results will be available by the end of March 1999. We can nevertheless present some major conclusions by reference to a similar study in the more degraded forest zone of southeastern Côte d’Ivoire (Caspary, in press), where we conducted a study into the importance and potential of game utilisation in two forest reserves and their adjacent zones. The TNP study area is located in the less developed region of Côte d’Ivoire’s forest zone. Population density is below the average, the timber industry and agriculture are poorly developed and islands of natural forest do still exist. Species diversity within the group of mammals exploited by subsistence hunters is still high, even outside the protected areas. In contrast to degraded forest regions (Figure 2), where the range of hunted species is dominated by the greater cane rat, the African brush-tailed porcupine, the blue duiker and the bushbock, hunters in the southwestern region in general trap and shoot all species of primates (including the chimpanzee) and forest antelopes (including the Zebra Antelope and the Jentink’s duiker). According to the monthly reports of the Division Aménagement du Parc National Taï (PACPNT), the diversity of game meat seized during several anti-poaching controls at TNP (1993 - 1997) is dominated by monkeys (nearly 40 %), followed by all species of the duiker- group (more than 35 %)6. 100 350 90 300 80 70 250 60 200 50 150 40 Pluie (mm) 30 100 20 N des animaux commercialisés 50 10 0 0 Fév Mars Avr Mai Juin Juil Aôut Sept Oct Nov Déc Jan Fév Pluie Aulacode grand Athérure africain Guib harnaché Figure 3 Fluctuations in the intensity of game exploitation – three key species of subsistence hunting in Aniassué (Southeast Côte d’Ivoire) 1996/97. Source: Caspary (in press). pluie = precipitation; Grand Aulacode = Greater cane rat; Athérure africain = African brush-tailed porcupine; Guib harnaché = Bushbuck 6 Sources: monthly reports of the Division d‘Aménagement du PN Taï (PACPNT). The total of the random check (N) is 1,775 individuals.

Load more